Group
5 (continued)
:
Lichens with thallus growing matted, branched, and
on tree trunks, limbs and
posts.
Name:
Letharia vulpina
Description:
Often mistaken for pseudevernia in
the field, but apothecia rarely seen
and the thallus is rounded, not
flattened. The gray to yellowish white
thallus grows into fairly large mats
when there is sufficient
moisture.
Habitat/s:
Spruce
limbs, twigs and bark. It can occur on
some other trees in very wet
environments.
Range:
Common in very wet areas and
present throughout all of South
Central Alaska.
|
Letharia
vulpina
|
Group
6: Lichens with thallus growing pendulously from
tree limbs and bark, often branching and hairlike
(mistakenly called moss and thought by some to
injure trees, both are untrue).
Bryoria
fuscescens
|
Name:
Bryoria fuscescens
Description:
Thallus pendulous, dark brown to
blackish and at times, growing in dense
masses. Soralia (rounded clumps of
soredia, which are microscopic algae
cells, contained in a hypha envelope
and erupting on a thallus surface) are
rather common and noticeable on this
species. They are white or light
gray.
Habitat/s:
On the bark, limbs and twigs of spruce
and hemlock.
Range:
All of South Central
Alaska.
|
Name:
Bryoria trichodes (old name was
Alectoria americana)
Description:
Thallus brownish, thin, smooth and very
delicate. Apothecia very rare. Tests
red with chlorine bleach or lye
solution.
Habitat/s:
Pendulous from spruce and hemlock
trees and branches.
Range:
All of South Central
Alaska.
|
Bryoria
trichodes
|
Bryoria pseudofuscescens
|
Name:
Bryoria pseudofuscescens
Description:
Thallus long and pendulous, dark brown
to blackish. Apothecia not usually
found. The whitish soralia found on B.
fuscescens is not present in this
species. Medulla (Inner area of
thallus) tests yellow, slowly becoming
red, with lye solution.
Habitat/s:
Mixed woods, on spruce limbs and
trunks. Occurs on hemlock in some
areas.
Range:
All of South Central Alaska, but
more common in coastal spruce hemlock
forests.
|
Name:
Bryoria capillaris
Description:
Thallus buffy yellow to light tan
when dry. This lichen does not attach
to limbs but drapes over them. It is
usually about twelve inches long, and
there are no soralia present. The
branches are hollow in this species of
bryoria.
Habitat/s:
Spruce hemlock forests, on
limbs.
Range:
All of the coastal hemlock and
spruce forests in South Central
Alaska.
|
Bryoria capillaris
|
Alectoria
sarmentosa
|
Name:
Alectoria sarmentosa
Description:
A light yellowish white lichen growing
pendulously from branches. It is not
always attached to the limb but merely
draped over it as in B. capillaris.
Perhaps this is caused by the wind
tearing away a section of a lichen and
depositing it on a limb. The branches
are hollow in cross section.
Habitat/s:
Old growth forests, prefers wet
spruce hemlock areas.
Range:
All of South Central
Alaska.
|
Name:
Usnea cratina
Description:
Thallus branches are not hollow, and
are yellowish whiteto pink, and growing
to twenty four inches in length. Very
pendulous. A beautiful species when
blowing in the wind. Branches not
hollow.
Habitat/s:
Wet old growth coastal forests,
growing on limbs of evergreen
trees.
Range:
All of South Central Alaska.
Note:
This is a source of usnic acid which is
an important antibiotic.
|
Usnea
cratina
|
Usnea cavernosa
|
Name:
Usnea cavernosa
Description:
Thallus is whitish yellow, and with
a greenish cast under some light
conditions. Pendulous, up to twenty
inches long, Branches not hollow in
cross section. Tests red with lye
solution. Our most abundant
usnea.
Habitat/s:
Wet spruce forests.
Range:
All of South Central Alaska,
primarily south of the Chugach range
and in the Prince William Sound area.
Collected at English Bay.
|
Name:
Usnea hirta
Description:
Thallus dark yellow with a greenish
tint when wet. becoming rather tan when
dry. Bunched and only a few inches
long, main stalks with many small
branches. There are no apothecia and
the branches are hollow.
Habitat/s:
Mixed woods growing on limbs and
bark of nearly any species of
tree.
Range:
All of South Central Alaska.
|
Usnea
hirta
|
-End
of article
|
